The Drummer Boy of Shiloh Response

In the beginning of the short story, The Drummer Boy of Shiloh by Ray Bradbury, the protagonist Joby was a young man, quietly celebrating his fourteenth birthday in a peach orchard with his drum in between his knees. He is expected to go into battle the next day and Joby is so frightened of fighting an actual battle, a man's war, that he is jerked upright just by the sound of a peach pit falling to the earth. Joby watched the some forty thousand soldiers in the distance night thinking about their heroic deeds in the battle ahead. Joby thought about the soldiers, how they were given guns. No heroism ever occurred without a weapon. Joby wasn't given a rifle. he was given a drum and two sticks. And he would march into battle with the rest of the men but instead of lowering his rifle, he would lower his sticks beat a rhythm and hope for the best. Joby knew his chances were slim in the battle ahead. But he also thought he would die unimportant, he ran away from him just to bang on his drum a few times and die. Joby felt hopeless, as people if we think we're going to die, w want to die for your cause. But to die without knowing you served a purpose in life, that's hard to live with, and to die with. 

Reading this moment in the story made me think about my experience in Mexico when I was eight. I still didn't really know how to swim yet, but I knew well enough to go out into the ocean. So there I was, on the beach in front of my hotel room swimming with my brother. When a surprising current took me off my feet and sent me a few feet backwards. Now, thinking back on this know, I'm pretty sure that this situation was not life threatening. I bet I could have doggy paddled back to where I could stand. But I just remember having a strong feeling that I was going to die, and that I was going to die without having accomplished anything really. I think this is how Joby might have felt, that last instinct of regret, like, I could have changed the world, I could be the next president, but here I am now about to die. Out of all possible feelings, that is probably one of the worst. 

Joby's thoughts about the upcoming day changed around three quarters through the book. The General of the Army is talking to Joby and Joby is listening intently. 
           "You boy, you are the heart of the army. Think about that. You are the heart of the army. Listen to me, now."
           Joby listened, Joby would not die unimportant, he could die, yes. But he would die as the heart of the army. he was the beat. He kept the army going. The hero's always the one who truly sacrifices himself. The one who is willing to die, Joby would go out there and leave himself undefended, so the forty thousand men fighting in the upcoming battle could listen to a beat before they died. Joby was the hero. The feeling was gone.